Tropico de Sangre

An excellent movie about Mirabal Sisters.I found it a little bit crude and violent, but necessary to express the violence of Latin American dictatorship in the 50s. The cinematography by Ricardo de Angelis expresses the beauty of the Dominican Republic countryside and at the same time the sadness of the people under Trujillo's power. Editor Nelson Rodriguez made a good job as usual. We are not used to see actress Michelle Rodriguez in this type of character and we were surprised by its very fine and poetic Spanish. Cesar Evora as Antonio de La Maza is impressive as the macho that finally killed Trujillo. What I preferred of this movie is how the story is told and how the dramatic process fits the real historic facts.

This is the second Dominican film I've seen. The other one was Sanky Panky. I think in three years or so Dominican cinema has somewhat improved: I liked the photography and the music. Nothing to say about them, they were quite good.

Unfortunately, there was a huge amount of things I did not like: - Acting was very very bad. Trujillo looked more like a clown than a dictator. Soap Opera style acting indeed.

• Screenplay: Full of holes, unarticulated, slow as hell, too much into details of the initial situation, not enough of the really critical ones. The best friend of a good screenplay writer is the delete key. Delancer's computer may not have one.

• Details, details, details: Parties that does not feel like ones, body-building Minerva, lots of clichés that the Dominican directors tends to include in films just as promotion of the country: baile de palos, serenatas...

My general feeling was that the film did not present the real things but kind of a caricature of them.

I watched this for Michelle Rodriguez, and hope she had fun making it, because it was not fun watching. Production standards are lower than TV, giving the movie the feel of an after-school special or soap opera. I suppose that's normal for Latin America, but why anyone would watch this is mystifying, as it seems written for elementary schoolers, yet contains brutal torture scenes that are the only half-effective part of the film because of this naive and amateurish ambiance. We learn that heroic main characters will die, and the film proceeds to tell the story of how they do hardly anything, are pushed around, and finally do nothing as they are killed. Even if you are used to this poor quality and have a stake in the history, movie film is pointless. Worse than pointless because the myth of the Mirabals seems mostly to be fetishizing their sex rather than their revolutionary principles.

So maybe I am NOT a world famous movie critic, but I thought the movie was excellent! Also, I AM NOT an expert in Dominican Republic history. Having said that, the movie DID make me connect with the characters, and the story-line was compelling, and powerful. Sadly, things like these need to happen, in order for the world to be a better place. I can most certainly say that her (Michelle's) pronunciation of the Spanish language, with a Dominican accent, was at best, "hard to swallow". But I think she was perfect for the role.

So, I disagree with, juliaaltagracia and timlin-4, that the movie was no good.

A film with ups and downs, that's Tropico de Sangre! Being said that, come on, it's a try. And it really has substance and good things to be pointed out! Tropico de Sangre exposes in an authentic way the often repeated story of the Mirabal Sisters.

To start off with the good, the movie's technical aspects are admirable. The image is great, the effects are great, and the production managed to successfully achieve the environment of the 50's with a hit in both dressing and scenery.

The performance of several actors such as Sharlene Taule and Sergio Carlo (btw, is that his name?) performing Manolo were standouts, as well as the performance of experienced Cesar Evora. Michelle Rodriguez, despite the negative aspects, delivered the expected. Other minor actors like the one performing Minerva's father and the one performing Johnny Abbes resulted convincing as well.

The way they tell the story is completely different to what we have seen, almost like much more poetical to me, and with right touches of fiction.

Going to the cons, the story seemed to run slower than how it should have run. Sometimes you felt lost regarding some characters: who is he? why is he there?

Juan Fernandez performance, is truly disappointing often falling in ridiculousness. His voice trying to imitate Trujillo sounded like a comic brought to the screen, and his inflexions were way too robotic. Minerva's mom is a complete joke as well! Very bad make up and very depressing performance! Actresses like Claudette Lali, Luchy Estevez, Celines Toribio... are just soap opera-ish! Too melodramatic and no real essence. Very superficial!

Anyways, this move is dignifying Dominican depressing cinema!